Category: 2018

Mom having a little fun!

A little while ago a few companies put a few hundred scooters around down town Kansas City. There is an app that you download and then you can scan the little code on the scooter and it unlocks it and lets you rent it to scoot around town. When you are done you park the scooter on the sidewalk or where ever and log off on the app and it locks it back up and you leave it there for the next person that comes along and wants to ride it. The idea is to cut down on traffic, and pollution and that sort of thing but a few of us crazy ladies decided to go check it out and ride some scooters for fun and it was pretty fun! They are pretty hefty little scooters. They have a fun little bell to ding, and some of them tell you how fast you are going. We were usually going 3-8 miles per hour. That might not seem very fast but when you are flying down a road with cars passing you, a trolley track to avoid, and watching for people, and nothing between you and the concrete road flying by under you except for two little wheels on a piece of metal it is plenty fast. It said you were not supposed to ride on the side walks so we were on the road most of the time. I think everyone just rides them on the sidewalk though, and I would feel much safer on the side walk. Down town roads are not know for their roominess. I am sure pedestrians feel safer if scooters are not zipping around them though. We were safe and all wore helmets. We zipped around town for about an hour then headed back to our car. We had one casualty right at the very end but she recovered and we all parked the scooters and went to lunch together followed by some famous ice cream from Betty Rae’s before heading back to pick kids up from school. It was a fun little break for myself which I was glad I did  because it refreshed me for the next week few days that were ridiculously busy.

Emilee’s Fire Station Field Trip

Emilee had her first field trip at school. There is a fire station just down the road from the school so all the kindergartners walked down and learned about fire safety first hand. She thought it was a pretty long walk but she had fun.

Halloween Festivities

For the past several years we have been ‘Booed’ by someone. I am pretty sure it is the same person every year but we can’t figure out who it is. Being ‘Booed’ is when someone leaves a treat or goody bag on your porch without you knowing it. When you get Booed you are supposed to hang the little sign on the front door that says “We’ve been booed!” and then you Boo two other people. Kind of a more fun version of a chain letter. The kids love it. Emilee likes to just leave it on the porch for them to find sometime, but Alli and Matthew like to ring the doorbell and run to test their speed and sneaky skills.

On our way to deliver our ‘You’ve Been Booed’ treats.

Some years I am more into Halloween than others. Either way I am ready for it to be over by the 31st. This year is kind of on the down side for being gung-ho for Halloween. Fall came really late so the hot weather made it hard to get in the mood. The kids like to help me put the decorations up. I am into more cute and silly Halloween decorations. Allison and Emilee (totally just being an Allison follower) keep begging to get more creepy scary Halloween stuff. I am not into that part of Halloween at all. Matthew and Ryan aren’t either so luckily the girls are out numbered.

Allison gets her creepy gross Halloween fix when she picks out her costume though. Last year she was a dead bride, this year she spent over an hour at the Halloween store looking for the perfect ‘disgustingly creepy’ costume. I walked a fine line between not raining on her parade and swaying her away from ones I really didn’t want.  She was wanting a scary clown with blood all over it. Unfortunately (or was is?) her choices for that costume were eliminated by not being available in the right size. She settled for a jester costume that had no blood on it but has gloves with long creepy fingers and a mask that is definitely scary clown material. It didn’t take her long to test her scariness and she was not disappointed. She hid in Matthew’s bathroom and scared him to death when he came in. I told her she couldn’t do that again but he walked around paranoid waiting for her to jump out anytime he couldn’t see her for two days because he didn’t trust her. He finally decided to hide her costume until Halloween so he didn’t have to worry about it. I was glad he thought of because I didn’t trust her either. It worked for about a week, then she found it. There is now a battle of hide-n-seek with Allison’s costume going on. If you hear the sound of bells (her jester hat has bells on it) you know you are going to get scared.

Allison-creepy clown.

Emilee walked around the store pointing out all the creepy stuff but settled on a cute little bat outfit. She told me it is the bat ‘Mavis’ the vampire turns into from Hotel Transylvania.

Emilee- Mavis the bat

Matthew wasn’t with us when we got the girls costume so he is going to reuse his costume from last year-the grim reaper- but call it a dementor from Harry Potter instead.

Matthew- Dementor

The girls and I went to a pumpkin patch together. There are many options around here. Emilee has been really wanting to go to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. It is a fun place with lots of different farm activities and animals to pet or feed or ride. They also have a hayride out to a pumpkin patch in October so we decided to go there and do both. It was pretty fun. We have gone to the farm many many times over the years.  I have to say it is a little more relaxing now that they are older to take them places. There were lots of mom’s with babies crying, toddlers rolling in the mud, or running off. I’m not complaining about them. I have been there, I get it. I help redirect a kid, and lend a hand when I can. I am just enjoying the less hands on approach I can have now. This is the first time we tried the pumpkin patch part though. It wasn’t ridiculously overpriced and the patch was pretty compact and had enough activities to keep them busy for a while. We all got to pick a pumpkin as part of admission too. Usually we go to the pumpkin patch but we will buy our pumpkins later at the store because I’m a stick in the mud and won’t spend $10-$20 PER pumpkin at the patch. Call me crazy. I call them crazy for charging that much for a pumpkin. We ended our time there by stopping at the General Store and getting a few pieces of salt water taffy. I don’t eat it very often but I like salt water taffy. They have yummy flavors too. Some of our favorites are caramel apple, root beer, cinnamon, and strawberry banana.

There is always the school trunk or treat and the church Chili-cook off (which I won last year-see my post ‘Why I Avoid Cooking’ for more details) followed by the trunk or treat, class parties and more. There is no shortage of candy by the time Halloween is over.

We usually carve our pumpkins a day or so before Halloween. This is a picture from carving pumpkins last year. I think it captures everyone’s thoughts quite well. Matthew is trying to touch it as little as possible and repeatedly saying how gross it is. Allison is completely  fascinated and loves everything about it from the smell to how slimy it is. You can’t see but Emilee has a spoon and is pointing and directing every cut Ryan is making but will not touch the pumpkin herself. Ryan took one for the team and is carving the pumpkin for Emilee. I am gagging over the smell while I take the picture. Every year I try and hype up the ‘lets paint our pumpkins instead’ option, but it is fun to put a candle in them and see the carving when your done so they have powered through carving them so far. 

I actually got a carving kit this year. It was worth every penny. I had the top cut off and the entire pumpkin gutted in under two minutes. Cutting out little spiders and other things was a piece of cake too.

For the last six or seven years on Halloween dad makes home made root beer with dry ice and we have pizza for dinner. We call the root beer ‘Witches Brew’. Then we get in our costumes and go trick or treating.  Most of the time the McDonald’s come over and eat and go trick or treating with us. We usually split up into a slow group and a fast group after the first few houses. I don’t know how many more years we have before the kids want to start doing their own thing instead, maybe we will keep doing it together even when the kids don’t but just stay home and play a game instead.  Matthew did end up going trick or treating with a few of his buddies. He had a ridiculous amount of candy when he got home.

Wood Bat Baseball Tournament

https://www.facebook.com/MidwestSportsProductions/videos/191881291712966/

Spoiler alert, the boys won the tournament. For the Championship Game there was a Midwest Sports Production reporter that filmed it and afterwards interviewed Matthew, Derrick and his coach. They just posted the final article/video to their Facebook page today. Matthew is in it quite a bit.

It was their first wooden bat tournament. They played a game earlier in the week and used wood bats to get used to it and it was not pretty.  One strike out after another. Matthew was pretty frustrated and was not looking forward to the tournament. He put in some extra batting time and Ryan got him his own wood bat that was the right weight and he was feeling much better about it. They played 5 games, won them all and only allowed 7 runs total in all 5 of those games.

The games were all good games against good teams, and our boys played well. Everyone was on top of their game. They hit well, fielded well. It was really fun to watch. A friend of Matthew’s that is on his football team played with us because we needed an extra player, his name is Xander. We are actually trying to get him to join our team so it was kind of a try out for everyone. He is a naturally athletic kid and is a great baseball player too. He played catcher a lot of the time or second and I think he and Matthew really boosted each others playing. He had some amazing throws and stops and he kept the energy up for the team.

The team as a whole was playing great but Matthew had the best weekend of baseball he has ever had. I am going to do some mom bragging for a while so get comfortable. It is so fun to watch him play, he loves it, he gets it, you can see him watching and thinking and he is good at it. He doesn’t have to wait to be told what to do by the coaches he is already doing it when they call it out. His batting average usually bounces around 400-500. It was 778 for this tournament! He was CRUSHING it! He got several doubles, and a triple. He thinks he might have gotten his first home run if he was using his regular metal bat. He and Xander scored all 5 runs for one of our games. He is our fastest runner. He loves his nickname- Cheetah (or if Allison is around she cheers for Cheeto to tease him). We missed one game because we were at church. We arrived for the last half of the second overtime inning.  As soon as Matthew got there his coach put him in as a pinch runner and he scored the tying run and then the person behind him scored the winning run.

He couldn’t miss all weekend it was awesome. Pop flies, grounders, line drives, anything that came near him he got it and gunned it to whatever base to get the out. Nothing got by him. They got a couple double plays too. There were a couple runners that thought they could steal a base than ended up in a pickle. Watching him chase someone down in a pickle is awesome. You can just see him turn the speed up a notch. It is nail biting to watch but it is great how they all know their parts and execute the play and back each other up.

This video is less than 10 seconds long (Xander’s mom took it and shared it with me) but it captures one of their plays and how awesome they were working together. I am not a sports announcer as you will soon find out but I am going to explain this video anyways. Then Matthew will have proof that I knew what was going on and wasn’t just sitting there eating my peanuts. (Love you Matthew 😉)

https://www.facebook.com/jessica.meinig/videos/10155600367720957/?t=2

There was a runner on first and they new he would probably try and steal second on the next pitch so the coach signaled Xander (catcher) to catch him stealing. So Xander calls a high pitch from Frankie (pitcher) so he can start to stand up to catch it. Matthew (short stop) also gets the signal. Frankie pitches a perfect pitch straight across the plate but just above the batters head so he won’t swing. As soon as he releases the ball he steps to the side so Xander has a straight shot to Matthew. The runner on first takes of to steal second but Xander has already jumped up to his strongest throwing position when he catches the ball so he is ready to throw it immediately to Matthew who has cut across to the other side of second base and has his glove out in the path of the runner to catch Xander’s throw that hits his glove with a nice pop right before the runner slides directly into it and is called out. Bam! In 7 seconds you have a perfectly executed defensive play by some cute, talented, fun, baseball loving 12 year olds. Not to mention what all the other boys did- center and second backed up Matthew, first was ready in case he tried to come back, right backed him up etc. It is so fun to see all of them getting better, trusting, supporting, learning, and growing as a team.

 

Best. Weekend. Ever.

This past weekend was an amazing weekend on all accounts. It was one of those weekends where the stars aligned and everyone was happy and the right amount of busy, relaxed, and enjoying each others company and activities that were going on. It was Parent Teacher Conferences so on Wednesday there was just a half day of school and then no school again until Monday. When the kids got home we went through the backpacks and got all that stuff done and hung them up so we didn’t have to think about it again until Monday morning. I went to the conferences and they were all fine. That night Matthew had a makeup baseball game that we went to. The girls both had a friend to play with so they were off at the park having a grand time. Both teams agreed to use wood bats because the tournament we played in over the weekend was a wood bat tournament. It didn’t go well. The boys had been practicing but all of their timing was a little off and it was kind of a sad game. Matthew decided to get over it by going to his friend Jake’s (also on the team) for a sleepover that night.

Thursday Matthew was at Jake’s most of the day and the girls and I went to a pumpkin patch. We had a fun little time. We did a hay ride, tractor ride, jumped on hay bales, went down slides, saw lots of animals, did a mini cornmaze (the best kind of corn maze), played in a giant bin of corn like a sandbox, and picked out some cute pumpkins. We topped it of with a favorite treat of salt water taffy on our way home.

Friday we played some games. One of our favorites right now is Trouble. Emilee thinks she can control the dice by wishing hard enough and crossing her fingers. It’s pretty funny when she guesses the right number. Friday night the girls gymnastics place was having their monthly parents night. The girls love it, they go and eat dinner, play games, and do gymnastics from 6:30-10:30. They have a blast and are still not ready to come home at 10:30. Matthew had three of his baseball buddies come for a sleepover Friday night. It was what he wanted to do instead of a big party this year for his birthday. We ate dinner at Pie Five, his favorite pizza place and then we went and played a couple games of laser tag. After that they came home and played night games outside for a while and watched a movie. I’m pretty sure they all had a great time. They all agreed to go to bed a little earlier than usual for a sleep over because the next day we started the Wood Bat Tournament.

Everyone woke up and it was hilarious seeing four boys get ready to go to their game. Ryan made us all a yummy breakfast and we went to the games. It was chillier so we were bundled up and snuggled in with blankets. I love it. We do spend a lot of time at baseball games but it is a fun time. The girls have fun at the games too. Sometimes they sit with me and watch but most of the time they run around in a pack with the other younger siblings at the game and play at the play ground or play tag or whatever they come up with. Emilee and her friend spent the whole day making homes and feeding their stuffed animals with grass that they would collect. Allison is one of the older ones so she likes being in charge and watching the kids. She played ‘the best game of tag ever’ most of the day. Then there is the food. We bring some healthier options but the girls love getting some nachos or an icee, or pretzels. They have hot chocolate now too which we all love. The boys played AMAZING and won the entire tournament with a 5-0 win record.

Champions! First Place!

Alli had a birthday party she went to at the community center pool. Best friends and swimming in her favorite pool-double win.

Sunday we made it to church on time and without fighting in the morning. That is a miracle in itself. The primary is practicing for the program for the next few weeks. It is always an exciting time to get to sit on the stand and talk and sing in the microphone. Matthew had his first class with his new deacon quorum. He was also given the Aaronic Priesthood by his dad. Uncle Ross and Brother Sawaya helped in the blessing too. That night he was able to go to his first youth fireside. He came home and was telling me all about how media can be addictive and we should be careful what we watch and limit what we watch. I tried not to look to dumb founded as he told me all this ‘new information’ he had learned. I tried even harder not to say, “Matthew I have told you that almost every day for the last half of your life.” I am glad hearing it from a third party helped it actually stick a little between the ears instead of a pass through.

We all had a really nice weekend. There was a lot of quality fun past due family time. It was hard to let it go and return back to real life on Monday morning. I won’t name names but there were more than one kiddo sad enough to start the tears that they had to go back to school. On the way back from baseball we got ice cream, Emilee was eating it but had to take a nap before she finished because she was so tired. I looked back and her hand was inside her ice cream bowl and she was sleeping.

Emilee napping in the middle of eating her ice cream.

 

 

 

Allison’s Greatest Grumpy Moments

I love you to death Allison, but you can be a stinker sometimes.  You have the tenacity, will power, and grit of a pit bull that just got bested by a chihuahua in front of his friends and his girlfriend. I love those qualities in you, they will be very helpful to you in your life. However, helping you learn to control, understand, and use those qualities in a positive way is not easy and as you well know, leaves you and your dad and I at our wits end sometimes.  I am not perfect and know I make mistakes and don’t always help you in the best way. I apologize for that to you a lot, and I am sure I will owe you many more apologies in your life. Sometimes when we are in the thick of a situation with you we just have to laugh so we don’t scream or cry. When you see this it obviously infuriates you even more but we hope someday you will understand. We are not laughing at you, or making fun of you. We are laughing at the situation and our own frustration.  So, I have decided to write down some of your more ‘stick it to my mom’ reactions and incidents so someday when you are older and understand we can laugh together.

Control is a big deal for you. You do not like to be told what to do or do something simply because everyone else did it. In church on Sundays when they make new callings or ask for sustaining votes, then any opposing votes. You ALWAYS oppose. If you are feeling a little more aggressive you will raise your hand high up in the air and clearly let anyone looking know you oppose. When you are a little less ornery it might be a quick half hand raise. I have even seen you just raise one finger, but nine out of ten times you do something. Then look at your dad and I like – “What are you going to do about it.”

Another one from church recently was planning your baptism. We sat down to pick who you wanted to do what for your baptism. We had to take a break and come back to it later because you were determined that you would only have one witness instead of two. “There is only one of me, I don’t need two people to watch me go under the water. I can watch myself.”

I have received many notes from you on my pillow when I go to bed at night. Sometimes it is a nice but more often than not it is chewing me out for some injustice you feel you had to endure throughout your day. This isn’t really a nasty one but it made me chuckle when I found it. If you notice, the diagonal ‘Chories Suck’ in purple letters. Very creative.

 

One of the earliest moments I remember of you deliberately being ornery was when you were about three. I knew your dad and I were going to have our hands full. I was chopping up raw onions for dinner and you came over and said you wanted to eat it. I told you it wouldn’t be very good but you wouldn’t let it go. I told you if you really wanted to take a bite you could but I didn’t recommend it. You grabbed the biggest piece you could find and shoved it in your mouth. It took about a half a chew before you face showed exactly what I expected, you did not like it. I said you could go spit it out because I could tell you didn’t like it. You glared at me, finished chewing, swallowed and said you did like it and grabbed another one and shoved it in your mouth. Then you stormed off, probably to go spit it out without any witnesses.

The past few months you have developed a habit that infuriates your dad and I. When someone is talking to you (anyone-but mostly your dad and I) and you don’t like what they are saying you start humming or making some obnoxious noise over them. AAAAHHHH! It seems like when I set my resolve to be more patient and not let your actions get to me, you up your game.

You have grown up a lot the past few months though and there is much more happiness than grumpiness from you for the most part. Whatever your mood though I love you tons girly!

Why I Avoid Cooking

Usually when the sign up for large church parties/meals, school events, or whatever comes around I sign up for the ‘can buy ready made’ options. Mostly because I would rather do almost anything besides cook so I bring the stuff that requires shopping instead of cooking, but I have had a few experiences that reinforce my desire to avoid cooking  and leave it to the real chefs too.

Ward Cake Auction

The Young Women had a spaghetti fundraiser dinner with a silent cake auction. I must have been in a baking mood when the signup came around because it is very unlike me but I thought “That will be fun! I can bring a pretty cake!” I have made some pretty cute birthday cakes so I envisioned a few fancy ideas and even thought about trying my hand at fondant. When it actually came time to make the cake my desire had faded a bit so instead of trying my hand at fondant, I made a lemon poppy seed cake with a glaze topping, I put it in a decorative bunt cake pan for the fancy part. When we arrived with our cake we were pointed to where to put it. A little back ground on our ward. They are great people, very kind, welcoming, and giving. Most of them are also very affluent and catering and amazing decorations are not uncommon at ward events because that’s just how it’s done by whoever decides to ‘host’ the party. So I shouldn’t have been surprised that they had several long tables decorated to the nines with spots for you to place your cake. It looked like a picture shoot for some up scale wedding food magazine. The cakes themselves were incredible too, I seriously doubt most of them were made by the person that brought them. I mean what are the chances that half our ward happens to be professional cake decorators.  Shoot, I’ve seen ‘professional’ cakes that didn’t look half as good as some of these. Anyway, I took my little bunt cake on its fancy clear plastic plate and found a nice spot for it between a triple tier chocolate cake with giant shaved curled chocolate cascading down it, and a fondant cake that looked like it came straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. After the dinner they did the dessert auction by having everyone write their price down and put it in an envelope then they called you from highest to lowest bid to come up and pick your cake. When it was our turn my kids picked the shaved chocolate triple layer cake (which looked amazing but tasted like a box cake). When it was all done the cakes were all picked…except my little lemon bunt cake. How sad! Ryan and I were having a good laugh about it. It was the ugly duckling of the cakes. We finished up and as we were leaving Allison happened to glance over and saw our cake still sitting there. She was dumbfounded (only momentarily) then she started ranting about how rude it was that no one wanted our cake. I kept moving her towards the door and telling her it was ok.  We almost made it out the door before she wiggled away and walked over to my cake picked it up and started walking out the door. She stopped at the table with everyone collecting the cake money on her way, she put her little hand on her hip and told them that, “My mom made this cake and no one picked it and I am not leaving it here by itself so I am taking it home, and just because it doesn’t have chocolate on it doesn’t mean it isn’t a good cake.” Then she continued stomping out to the car with the cake. I think she genuinely thought the cake felt sad. I smiled and waved to the cake people as I followed her out. I wasn’t upset about no one picking it but I admired Allison for sticking up for what she thought was a gross injustice.

Ward Chili Cook Off.

Part 1. A few years back Ryan signed me up without my knowledge to bring chili.  He signed up with my name but his email and then kept meaning to tell me but never did. Apparently he was also planning on making it himself when he signed me up but forgot to do that too until he was on his way home from work and he remembered to call and tell me we were supposed to bring chili to the Chili cook off that started in 30 minutes. So I threw a few cans of chili into a pan on the stove (and got the kids in their costumes make-up and treat bags and finished decorating our trunk) and heated it up then put it in the crock pot to keep warm. Ryan was mortified when I told him how I ‘made chili’ in half an hour. I told him to set it up by the food, it didn’t have to be in the competition and stop signing me up for things. He did all that but also had to throw me under the bus and tell everyone about it. That’s fine, my pride is not tied to my cooking, and there were at least two other chilis that looked and tasted very similar to the one I brought.

Part 2. A few years later…We have a chili recipe that we got from Ryan’s mom and  he had always been the one to make it when we decided to have chili. I made it one time and was very happy at how easy and simple a recipe it is.  So the next time the ward chili cook off came around I decided I would sign myself up and make some. Which I did. I made it, brought it and I entered it into the contest-Chili #14.  Ryan decided to start with my chili then go back and try a different one. He took the first bite and started gagging and spit it out. I thought he was trying to be a turd, so I tried it and did the same thing. I do not know what happened. We couldn’t decide if the vinegar was bad (does vinegar go bad?!) or if I happened to get a can of bad beans, or someone thought it looked to good and really wanted to win so they dropped the equivalent taste of a stink bomb in my chili. Whatever happened it was not good. Pretty much everyone had gone through the food line by that point but I went up to get my crock pot so no one would take anymore. All the food was pretty much gone, except for my chili. I guess word spread fast to not eat chili #14.

Part 3. The following year… I decided to redeem myself and make a chili again for the cook off. This time I tasted it before we went and it was delicious. I entered it into the contest and tasted it again. It still tasted delicious. Everyone’s chili was yummy and we had a great time. When they announced the winner, my chili got first place. Woohoo! I decided to quit while I was ahead and go back to taking corn bread or toppings from then on.

Ward Christmas Breakfast

For a Christmas breakfast one year they had a specific breakfast casserole recipe that they wanted everyone to make to bring to the ward breakfast. I signed up to bring fruit and some other things but a few days before they requested more people bring casseroles because they were worried there wouldn’t be enough for everyone. I got the recipe and made it. I don’t remember exactly but it was something like sliced bread with cheese and bacon sprinkled on top then had milk poured over it and baked. It didn’t sound, look or taste good to me but I followed the recipe and made it exactly how it said. I took it and set it next to all the other casseroles. It actually looked like most of the others too which increased my confidence more that I made it correctly. It looked like several people had ‘adjusted’ the recipe to make it better too, which is a great idea but as you can tell from my previous examples not really my wheel house to adjust recipes. My kids wouldn’t come within 10 feet of it, and they weren’t the only ones. I felt like this one was more the recipes fault then mine though.

Potluck with Friends.

Once a month during the school year a bunch of women meet for lunch and have a pot luck together. We take turns hosting it. Anyone is welcome, there are people from church, the gym, neighbors, friends of friends. Anyone can come and everyone brings something and we eat and visit for a few hours. I was hosting it one time and made a cheesy potato soup that I have made probably 50 times. Everyone came and ate, I didn’t eat my soup because I was trying everything else.  We had the rest of the soup for dinner that night and it was so gross. I’m guessing I left out most of the cheese and salt because it basically tasted like flour and milk sauce with chunks of potatoes. Good grief. I told my friends that I expect them to let me know in the future if there is something obviously wrong with my soup instead of powering through it.

I have many many other cooking stories but I think I have gotten my point across. It is not my favorite thing or my best talent, and I need to remember to taste test better when I do make something.

Catching up with Matthew

Matthew turns 12 this month! It is CRAZY how fast the past twelve years have gone since he was born. He decided instead of a big party this year he wanted to do a sleepover with a few of his baseball buddies. They came over Friday night and we ate pizza and went and played a few games of laser tag. Then they ate way to much junk food and played video games. They had a baseball tournament the next day so they woke up and had crapes for breakfast then we got ready and went to the game.

His birthday was on a Monday and our schedule was pretty full in the evening of football practice and piano lessons. Grandma and Grandpa Terry were in town watching the Terry cousins so they came over and we celebrated on Sunday. He wanted a cookie cake. Allison dropped Matthew’s birthday cake two years in a row so we now have a rule that she isn’t allowed to transport his birthday cake at all. The cake safely made it to the table to have candles blown out. We opened presents. He got a few sizes of dumbbells and other things to start his weight collection he wants to have and a microphone headset to play video games with and a few other things.

We decorated his room with lots of balloons and notes about how awesome he is and we had shrimp for dinner-his favorite. I double the amount I make every year and it still isn’t enough for him to get his fill.

Every year on his birthday for the last few years Matthew challenges his dad to a race to see if he is faster yet. Every year he thinks it is his year but so far Ryan has held the win. Ryan says he will not be able to beat him until he is an old man and it is embarrassing for Matthew to say he can beat him.

He is now in Young Mens too. He will get the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and pass the sacrament for the first time with his dad the week after that. The Deacon president and a leader came over and talked to him about stuff on Sunday. I think he is excited to go to Young Mens. He is not a big scouter. He likes the activities and camping (in good weather) but he isn’t to concerned with getting all the badges and things like that. He was excited to go to an activity tonight that wasn’t just for scouts. We are planning on doing baptisms with him at the temple soon as well. Lots of changes!

This is my last year with my tweenager, then he will officially be a teenager. He is getting a little bit of the mood swings and some attitude sometimes but he is a good kid. He is a stubborn kid just like his dad and in the same way his dad is. It is like a Ryan mini me. Good thing Ryan knows how to handle himself. 🙂 Matthew has a good head on his shoulders. I’m excited to watch him continue to grow.

He is adjusted to school for the most part. He has a little bit of a negative attitude about it though. We have been talking a lot about how to enjoy things and make the best of it even when it ‘isn’t fun’. He took an assessment that helps them think of possible career paths based on how they answer some questions. I remember doing that in high school and it told me I would be a good airline pilot. I think of it more of a fun ‘horoscope’ test, than valuable information. His answers said he would be a good, zoo keeper, vet, or professional athlete. Except for the vet part (he can not handle even thinking about blood, body parts, or needles without freaking himself out) he thought it was right on track. He tried art and choir for his electives this semester. He likes art, his choir teacher is about a bog a stick in the mud as you can get and makes everything miserable so he is going to switch to life time sports next semester. Hopefully at the new middle school next year the choir teacher will be better and actually involve some singing in the class and he will be willing to try it again.

He played a tournament with the Raised Royal Baseball team he is on a few weeks ago. It is a combination of two teams and they only play tournaments in the Fall. They did really good. In the two years they have played they have never lost so they started getting a little cocky and careless and ended up taking second in the tournament. They could have easily one if they kept their discipline. It was a good learning lesson for them though, and still fun to watch.

 

Catching up with Allison

Allison is having a little growth spurt mentally and physically. She is leaving her little girl traits behind and starting to get young girl traits in their place. She is loving 3rd Grade. She has a good fun group of friends she hangs out with and she likes her teacher, and she is feeling challenged with school work instead of doing ‘baby work’. She has a good grasp of math. She was playing a game with Ryan the other day and he was really impressed with her strategy ability and how she could add numbers in her head so quickly.  It is fun seeing her start to grow up and show more of her traits and abilities. She is a talented girl.

She has been sick this week so she stayed home with me Wednesday through Friday. She slept most of the first two days but was starting to feel better on Friday enough to play Battle Ship and watch a movie together. She is a fun little girl. I love it when she is her happy silly self. She kept winning at Battle Ship so for the last game she put her ships all together so once I found one I found all of them. She has a kind sweet little heart.

She is good at piano but I am having to coerce her quite a bit to get her to stick with it. We made a deal that if she does it through Christmas break then I will let her choose if she wants to keep with it or not. Hopefully by then she will be hooked and want to keep going.

She is loving gymnastics still. She even admitted she was glad that she switched to the new place. She has been improving a lot. She can do several different kind of flips and walk overs. She switched from the tumbling only class to the general gymnastics class so she could do bars too.

She is doing another year of girl scouts. We switched troops this year too, and it is a much better fit. There are several girls in her troop that she hangs out with at school too, and her best friend from last year that is at the new elementary this year is in it too. They do a lot more activities that Alli is interested in and it is a good fit for her.

Catching up with Emilee

Emilee’s favorite things right now are coloring and more coloring. She carries her crayons and whatever she is coloring wherever she goes. She is very good at it too. She is really good at coloring everything like a rainbow. She lost her fourth tooth today. She is running low on top front teeth, it just makes her cuter though.

Emilee’s class has a Mystery Reader on Fridays. A parent or other family member can come and read a book to the class and they don’t know who it is until they come. I signed up to come read last Friday. It was fun, kindergarten is a fun age.

I am volunteering in her class on Thursday afternoons. I have done it for a few weeks and it is one of my favorite things I do each week. Sometimes I do copies and laminating or other things like that for her teacher. Sometimes I help them do a project that they are working on. This last week I helped them paint pumpkins and glue a face on it.

Emilee is still struggling a little bit with going to school in the mornings. Monday’s are usually the worst, Tuesday is ok and it starts building again and Thursday and Friday are pretty rough. I was walking you into class on occasion to see if that would help you relax but then she just wanted me to walk her in everyday and it seemed to be making her anxiety worse. So now, if she comes into class on her own and is not crying her teacher lets her have an extra ticket or prize from the treasure box. If that isn’t enough to help her be brave then the school counselor comes out to the car and helps her walk in. This week she went in three times on her own and the counselor had to walk her in twice…three days in a row was a new record so that is good. Baby steps.